Vigor of Twelve is a play off of the fact that Jesus had twelve disciples. It is a name that helps stress an importance on discipleship. This blog is specifically geared for younger people and mature Christians who don't mind a fresh, bold, and blunt approach to faith. Comments welcome, let's begin the discussion!

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Thursday, April 7, 2016

Luke 6:22-23

Luke 6:22-23

Blessed are you when mankind should hate you and when they
should set themselves apart and when they should revile you and when they
should cast out your name as evil for the sake of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap in this. For behold! Your wage is great in
heaven. For their fathers did the same
thing to the prophets.

Thoughts
for Today

First Thought:

We are blessed in persecution. That sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t
it? But that is literally what Jesus
says. When people hate you – assuming you’re
are being hated because of your life in Christ and not because of your sinful nature
– you are blessed. When people set you
apart – in other words, when you are ostracized – you are blessed. When people say that you are evil, you are
blessed. This really requires a mindset
on heaven. It’s not easy hearing people
hate you for what you are trying to do in the kingdom. It’s not easy listening to your name be
slandered because people don’t like how you are living out your faith. It’s not easy being welcome because of how
you live out your faith. But in the end,
we will be blessed because in the end it is not the opinion of the people
around you that will matter at all. What
matters is whether you will live eternally with the Father. That is why we can be blessed in the midst of
our persecution.

Is it easy for you to focus on blessing when you are
despised by the people around you? Are
you good at remembering your blessing as you live?

Second Thought:

What is interesting is that Jesus tells us how to react. This is the only one of these teachings on
blessing in which Jesus feels the need to tell us how to respond. We are to rejoice. We are to leap. I think there is a reason Jesus tells us how
to react. Persecution is never fun. Our gut instinct is never to be happy – much less
leap for joy – in the midst of persecution.
We need a reminder. We need to
make sure we take Jesus seriously on this one.
That’s why Jesus tells us how to react.

How do you rejoice in suffering? How do you rejoice and be glad in the midst
of your suffering while still being genuine about who you are in Christ?

Third Thought:

Then Jesus reminds us that our wage is
great in heaven. This world is
temporary. This world is only several decades
old for us. Heaven is eternal. Heaven is never going to end. If our focus is on heaven, we should be able
to rejoice in the midst of our suffering.
At most, we suffer for a few decades.
But we will live with God forever!

What does the expression “your wage”
mean to you with respect to heaven? What
are you looking forward to the most in heaven?